


Hotwired Heartstrings

by Stewbacca94



Series: RWBY Reddit Ramblings [30]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Classical Music, Ambiguous/Open Ending, F/F, Implied Relationships, Love at First Sight, Violins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:01:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21766507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stewbacca94/pseuds/Stewbacca94
Summary: When Cinder Fall decides to hear a new violinist perform the second of Paganini's violin concertos, nothing prepared the classical music aficionado for the skill of the performer ... or the sight of her, for that matter.
Relationships: Cinder Fall/Emerald Sustrai
Series: RWBY Reddit Ramblings [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1262834
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	Hotwired Heartstrings

###  **Hotwired Heartstrings**

Cinder Fall wasn't the sort who enjoyed modern music. Even the higher, more cerebral genres like jazz and progressive rock failed to resonate with Cinder's soul like orchestral music had always done. Whether it be the fugues of Bach, Handel's melismatic arias, Beethoven's dramatic flair or the majestic waltzes of Strauss, the sound of an orchestra on top of their game filled Cinder with a singular joy that nothing else could provide.

Even the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan and the populist revivals of Rieu and Webber could command rapt attention from Cinder as much as the masters and classics did, and the twenty-eight year old brownstone bohemian counted herself lucky to have a corporate job that paid enough for her to enjoy New York's year-round performances of symphonies, operas and musicals.

So on one cold autumn evening within the Big Apple, Cinder entered Carnegie Hall wreathed in a knee-length carmine jacket and white scarf over a dress, stockings and heels darker than the night sky. Flashing her ticket at the doorman, Cinder mingled with the crowd that gathered outside the Stern Auditorium, the largest of the three performing spaces in the venue. After a few minutes of loitering, the ushers finally opened the doors, and Cinder made her way inside with a glass of Riesling in her hand.

Unlike most patrician patrons of the high arts, Cinder preferred to sit in the stalls. The sound of the music was clearest there, and Cinder could actually see the performers go about their work in full flights of passion. Having brought in some cashews in her jacket, Cinder parked herself in the middle row, facing centre stage directly. A couple of cashews were thrown into her mouth and began to be chewed to a pulp, which Cinder had adopted as a coping mechanism after managing to quit smoking.

Taking a look at the program, Cinder began to look forward to Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 2 in B Minor that was to be performed by a young, up and coming solo violinist called Emerald Sustrai with piano backing from Jaune Arc. The latter name was one Cinder recognised; the blond Marseilles native was the resident pianist at the New York Philharmonic. However, the violinist's name didn't ring any bells, even as the announcer introduced them briefly on stage.

As the announcer departed the hallowed stage, the full house were treated to a sight unlike any other that came to that place as Emerald Sustrai made her entrance with Jaune Arc walking behind her to rapturous applause.

Since no picture had accompanied the program that evening, Cinder found herself agog at the sight of six feet of Arabic and African-American beauty, with jade hair offsetting a pair of warm eyes the colour of rust. A long, revealing white dress wreathed her amazonian figure, lacking straps and harbouring a large slit on the left side of the skirt. A pair of detached sleeves covered her slender arms up to the palms of her hands, while the high-heels helped show off her shapely legs.

When she made it to her spot in front of the Bosendorfer concert grand piano, Emerald took a quick bow with a smile as Jaune sat down at the piano, with both of their music stands harbouring a tablet each. Cinder quickly realised that the sheet music was in digitised form so the page-turners could use Bluetooth to change pages from offstage. _Good_ , she thought to herself, _it means less distractions from the performance_.

As the applause died off, Emerald and Jaune shared a look with their hands readied … and the concerto started in earnest. From the first note of the Allegro movement that started the piece, Cinder was _enraptured_. Whether it be the resonance of the room, or how much resin had been used in preparation for the concert, or the use of horse hair for the bow, Emerald's Stradivarius was bright without being shrill, with her subtle use of vibrato adding depth to the notes as her left hand deftly slid up and down the fingerboard. Jaune coaxed a refined, dark tone from the priceless Bosendorfer as he provided the rhythmic and harmonic content Emerald's violin rested on, providing exactly the sort of unobtrusive ballast that Paganini's works demanded.

Cinder felt like she was flying on the gusts of dawn as the movement sped along at a lively pace, and her aural euphoria increased as the key change was executed perfectly. As for the performer herself, Emerald wasn't the sort of musician who performed po-faced; her face naturally changed and emoted as the nature of the music shifted. Cinder applauded promptly with the rest of the audience at the end of the movement, eagerly sitting bolt upright in her seat for what came next.

As the Adagio movement in D major started, Cinder felt a transcendental shift in understanding as the slower piece stirred her spirit. While still refined, Emerald's expressiveness increased with the slower passages letting her use more vibrato, adding more vivacity to the work. Surprisingly, Cinder wasn't thrown off by this, although she found herself staring more at Emerald's cherubic, chocolate-hued face. As the second movement came to an end, Cinder had to be frank with herself; she was in love with this woman.

And then the rondo colloquially called La Campanella kicked in, and Cinder's bliss reached fever pitch.

The original key of B minor returned once more for the final act, and Emerald's fingers began to dance and jump all over the violin's range while Jaune kept tempo with a firm waltz beneath it. All pretense of refinement had left the violinist's mind as Emerald began to dance ever so subtly in rhythm with her lyrical and sharp violin playing, and Cinder felt her breath catch every time that slit in the skirt gave her a view of Emerald's toned legs. But the music was so powerful that it had scoured Cinder's soul clean, leaving the wealthy urbanite moved to tears when the masterful display finally finished.

Cinder was the first to stand up and applaud with the crowd as Emerald and Jaune moved forward and took a bow together, and she knew with absolute certainty as she ran into the performer at her local coffee shop two days later that Emerald Sustrai would feature in her life far more often than she'd ever have guessed.

Whether that was as a friend or as a lover ... who's to say?

* * *

**A/N: I've been working on this for about six hours - after writing for two more fanfics yesterday. God help me.**

**Inspired by[this piece of fanart](https://www.reddit.com/r/RWBY/comments/e8cjvx/emerald_limart/) by Limart that I saw on Reddit - hence its addition to the Reddit Ramblings series.**


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